drink tlian preacli of heaven itself. Truly, they are but a very few, and those sufficiently jeered for their pains, that like the message of the gospel so well as to receive it cordially into their hearts: if any one does but give entertainment to Christ, and it be known, what an alarm does it give to all his carnal neigh- boiu's ! who, if they do not presently beset his house, as the Sodomites did Lot's, yet set some brand of scorn upon him, yea, make account they have now rea- son enough to despise and hate him, how well soever they loved him before.
0 what will God do with this degenerate age ! O England, England !
1 fear some sad judgment or other bodes thee ! if such glad tidings as the gospel brings be rejected, sad news cannot be far off — I cannot think of less than of a departing gospel. God never made such a settlement of his gospel among any people, but he could remove it from them. He comes but upon liking ; and will he stay where he is not welcome ? Who will that hath else- where to go? It is high time for the merchant to pack up and be gone when few or none will buy, nay, when, instead of buying, they will not suffer him to be quiet in his shop, but throw stones at him, and dirt on his richest commodi- ties. Do we not see the names of Christ's faithful messengers bleeding at this day imder the reproaches that fly so thick about their ears ? Are not the most precious truths of the gospel almost covered with the mire and dirt of errors and blasphemies which men of corrupt minds, set on work by the devil himself, have raked out of every filthy puddle and sink of old heretics, and thrown on the face of Christ and his gospel? And where is the hand so kind as to wijDe oil" that which they throw on ? — the heart so valiant for the truth, that will stop these fcml mouths from spitting their venom against Christ and his gospel? If anything be done of this kind, alas, it is so faintly that they gather heart by it ! justice is so favourably sprinkled, like a few drojis upon a fire, that it rather increaseth the flame of their rage against the truth, than quencheth it. A prince calls not home his ambassador for every affi-ont that is offered him in the streets, but when he is affronted and can have no redress for the wrong.
Section II. — Object. But some may say. Though it cannot be denied that the gospel hath foiuid very unkind entertainment by many among us, and especially of late years, since a spirit of error hath so sadly prevailed in the land, yet make us not worse than we are. There is, blessed be God, a remnant of gracious souls yet to be found to whom Christ is precious, who gladly embrace the message of the gospel, and weep in secret for the contempt that is cast upon it by men of corrupt minds and profane hearts; and, therefore, we hope we are not in such imminent danger of" losing the gospel as your fears suggest.
Ans. If there were not such a sprinkling of saints among us, our case were indeed desperate, Concbtsum esset de nobis. The shades of that dismal night would quickly be upon us. These are they that have held the gospel thus long among us. Christ had, as to his gospel presence, been gone before this, had not these hvmg about him, and with their strong cries and prayers entreated his stay. But there are a few considerations as to these, which, seriously weighed, will not leave us withovit some tremblings of heart.
First, Consider what little proportion, as to number I mean, do those that embrace the gosjiel bear to those that continue to reject it ; those that desire to keep Christ among us, to those that wish him gone, and would gladly be rid of him. Were it put to the vote, would not they carry it by thousands of thousands, that care not whether we have a gospel or not ? and doth it not prophesy sadly when the odds are so great ? In all the departures of God from a people, there were ever some holy ones mingled amongst the multitude of sinners. Sardis had her 'few names which had not defiled their garments,' but yet the 'candlestick was removed. ' All that they could get was a promise for themselves in particular. Rev. iii. 4, 'They shall walk with me in white;' but no protection for the church. God can pull down the house, and provide well for his saints also that he finds there. A few voices are easily drowned by the outcry of a multi- tude ; a few pints of wine are hardly tasted in a tun of water ; and a little number of saints can do sometimes but little to the saving of a wretched people among whom they live. Possibly, as in a weak body, where the disease hath got the mastery, nature putting forth its siDumum conatnm, its utmost strength, may keep life awhile in the body, some days or weeks, but cannot long without some help to evacuate (he distemper; so a few saints, shut up in a dcgcncrale
THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. QA^g